Horror with a twist

Youtube release of short films has become a norm these days. Some go viral with thousands of views, whereas others fail to create a stir. 

Today, people like to see genuine stories that can hold them to their seats for those 5 or 10 minutes, within which a concept needs to be conveyed. “In the near future as the concept of online releases of feature films will also be a trend, a short film which includes the technicalities of a feature film has more chances of being watched and liked,” says Sudhil Subramanian who kept this in mind while releasing his short film Pantham on YouTube. 

His concept was to provide a complete movie watching experience to the audiences and make them forget they are watching something that will only last 8 to 10 minutes. Moreover, Pantham is a horror flick. 

“This might not intrigue many, but I am sure once you watch it you will understand the mood created by the lighting, BGM and editing that gives it a feel of a Hollywood horror film, which is not so common,” says Sudhil, who would probably be more known for his upcoming movie Chengazhi Nambiar— a big budget movie that has been in news ever since it was announced.

Explaining more about his experiment, he says the abruptness and open-ended approach in Pantham is deliberate, adding, “I knew that whoever watches Pantham for the first time will have many doubts as it seems to be incomplete and despite being a horror flick, which people usually only watch once, they will watch it more than once to clear these doubts. This is exactly what I wanted and I guess the response I am receiving is a testimony to it.”

The short film that was released on August 4 already has got more than 4,500 views. 

The horror element in the movie that catches hold of the audience is a known approach of the characters when they encounter a spirit that is said to be in an old bungalow. They try to meet the spirit in their dreams, which is based on the concept of the soul travelling to places and doing things that a body cannot do. However, at the end of the movie, the director has left it to the audiences to make out what could come next. “This was just an attempt to show the audiences that subjects that would force them to watch a movie again and again are a culmination of many things like the story and other technical aspects,” says Sudhil.

He is also working on a movie called Back to Life that is an out and out graphics film based on life after the end of the world.